


two kids from inuzuri

by mazabm



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Renji becomes a Captain and is validated, acknowledging a power imbalance, i wrote this partly out of spite, this is softer than i imagined it would be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-10 01:13:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18928309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mazabm/pseuds/mazabm
Summary: When Renji became Captain of the Seventh, Rukia cried. To be fair, Renji cried earlier that day so he should have expected it.“Can you believe it?” She said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Two kids from Inuzuri being captains?”Or the story of Renji finally becoming a Captain and how his relationships change because of it.





	two kids from inuzuri

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing a response to the end of the manga where Renji is a captain and then I was like hm how did that go.

When Renji became Captain of the Seventh, Rukia cried. To be fair, Renji cried earlier that day so he should have expected it.

“Can you believe it?” She said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Two kids from Inuzuri being captains?”

There is a story there about two kids who deserved so much more for their lives than the outer districts.  Two kids who had to watch their friends die and make decisions children should never have to make. Becoming shinigami saved their lives, being adopted saved Rukia and being strong saved Renji. There are universes where they both die, it’s not this one.

“You’re gonna be a great captain, Renji.” She says, and he thinks in a dream world this is when she would tell him she loves him and kiss him back, but she just hugs him tight, wipes her tears and walks back to her position in the line of Captains.

There is a love there that is for them only, love between two survivors, it’s important to Renji, he will never let it fade again.

They are captains, these two little orphans from Inuzuri, and closer than ever. So why does Renji feel this way?

 

When Renji got the news of his promotion, his Captain had been there, leaning back against the wall as the officer from One read the announcement.

“You have a week to decide if you accept, sir.” Please let the Captain Commander know as soon as you can.” With a dash, the woman was off and Renji looked up from the paper with Kyoraku’s clean handwriting to look his Captain in the eye, his Captain who wore an almost proud look in his eyes.

“You knew?” Renji asked already knowing the answer.

“You need six captains to recommend a Vice Captain for the position, you had nine.” Renji breathes out because this, he wanted this for a long time, for a very long time. He wanted this and more a lot. His Captain’s eyes are sharp, and Renji looked down. “Congratulations.” The man said. Renji looked up in shock as the other man stood now right out of the way of his desk, much closer than he was before.

“Thank you, Captain.” He’s not sure what else he’s supposed to say, maybe stand, bow. He’s a little shaken, he needs to tell Rukia.

“You will accept, correct?” It isn’t pushy or nosy, it’s asked the way his Captain asks most things like he knows the correct answer and is waiting for Renji to catch up. Except, Renji doesn’t know, he doesn’t say that to his Captain. To a Captain, because if he accepts Captain Kuchiki won’t be his captain anymore. “Renji?”

“Captain,” The two men hold each other’s eyes for what feels for a long time, Renji (the coward) looks away first. Zabimaru growls.

“I expect you to do all your work before you leave, Lieutenant.” His, The, A Captain says. 

“Yes, Captain.” It comes out with ease, it always has.

 

The first day of him officially being a captain as he pulls on the white haori, there is a scarf lying on his dresser. Renji breathes out because no matter how often he tried to return it, it always came back. He tried to bring it up once with his, not his Captain anymore who acted like he knew nothing. So today, Renji wears the scarf. He doesn’t have much else that would stand out and this scarf, that was once was covered in blood is his, for all the fineness, it feels nice; it feels like it fits. He wears it under the white haori, loose hanging. He pulls his hair back, and he breathes out slowly.

There is a story here, about a boy who figured he would never belong, who when Aizen found he could not manipulate dumped him in the Eleventh where he found a family and when it was time for him to move on, the Sixth found him and for a long time they did not let go.

There is a story here about a boy with hair as red as blood, who never gave up but lost all the same but is it losing if he found something in its place?

He makes his way to his spot in the Captains, next to Captain of the Sixth, not his Captain anymore, who smiles at him, small but proud.

 

Captain Kuchiki tips a glass to him. He should not be here, he should be tucked under Ikkaku’s arm, making faces at Yumichika as the man says something that will make Renji roll his eyes. He should be among people who will treat him normal (not like he’s suddenly worthy of their attention because he wears a Captain’s haori) and definitely not be with his Captain, not his Captain anymore drinking.

“Renji,” Captain Kikuchi says, looking at him with a strange expression in his eyes. “Your mind is elsewhere?”

“No, Captain.” There he goes again and he can see the discrete frown on Captain Kikuchi’s face.

“You know Renji,” The man says. “I’m not your Captain anymore.”

“I know.” Renji says because he does, he’s waited for this day (and honestly coming from the Eleventh thought it would go a little differently) “Old habits are hard to break.” And his Captain tilts his head at him.

“If anyone can break them, you can.” It’s not quite a compliment but not quite an insult and Renji looks down at him so his face doesn’t betray him. Renji wants to ask ‘what can I call you now if you’re not my Captain’ but he holds his question.

“Sir,” He starts.

“Byakuya.” The Captain says in return. Renji swallows and he feels the Captain follow the line of his throat, settle on the scarf.

“Okay, Byakuya,” Renji says.

 

They are not equals. Yes, they are now both Captains but Renji has never felt like he can walk side by side with his, with Byakuya. He can do so with Rukia because at their heart they are still two kids from Inuzuri. But Byakuya has always bled nobility and distance. This time though the man has slowed down when he walks so Renji stays even with him, a small smirk on his lips.

There is a story here about a Captain and his Lieutenant and how the Captain once struck him down only to see him clinging to life. There is a possibility for pity there but it never quite takes form. It can’t when respect blooms in its wake.

 

“You wear my scarf,” Byakuya says to Renji, weeks into his captaincy.

“You wouldn’t take it back.” He says and the other man huffs out a laugh.

“It suits you,” Byakuya says. Renji’s eyes follow him even after he isn’t there.

 

Being a Captain is something new and different. In the Sixth, he had been the fire to Byakuya’s cool exterior, and even after he turned against the man, some of his squad had fallen behind him. Some were angry at him for turning on the Captain but as the other man pretended that nothing had changed, so did the Sixth, they were good that way. The Seventh takes to him differently for he is not unlike the Captain they had long ago. He’s open, and he makes sure that his Division knows they can come to him. His lieutenant is a young woman, Kamino Ryu, who replaced Iba. She only saw the end of the war but she watches him with something close to worship in her eyes. It reminds him of Hinamori and he goes to great lengths to ensure she thinks on her own.

Ikkaku and Yumichika watch him with something close to pride and he knows they’ll never say anything.

There is a story there about a boy who only wanted to get stronger, who when thrown to the ground was demanded that he stand back up.

“Teach me.” He had said, and he always rose again.

 

“I gotta know,” he says, unsure of how he’s here again, sitting across from the man drink in his hand. Byakuya looks up at him from under long black eyelashes and he leans back to conceal his reaction. “Are the rookies getting smaller?” He has to lean in for the snort of laughter that leaves the other man and his eyes go wide listening to the sound.

When Renji was the man’s lieutenant they didn’t have moments like this. How could they when every moment Renji spent under him he was planning a way to get over him? This is nice, softer than he would have imagined they could be. War often makes men cruel, but it has thawed them.

He doesn’t gasp when Byakuya puts his hand on top of his but he doesn’t move it either. When they make eye contact, he feels like a teenager with a crush, praying there would be more ways to see that gentle small smile playing at his lips.

 

There is a story here about a boy full of determination who shifted the hearts of others long after he was gone.

 

“He’s trying with you.” Renji runs his hands through his hair, Rukia watches him unimpressed.

“I think I know.” It’s a relatively easy conclusion to come to based on the evidence. Byakuya watches him with a different eye, when he was a lieutenant, it had been a critical eye bound to push and prod every weakness of Renji into non-existence. “It’s crazy, he treats me like,”

“Like you’re worth it.” There is something in Rukia’s eyes he can’t name but she smiles. “Don’t get yourself hurt.” Renji thinks the worst damage Byakuya could do, he already did when the man left him in a dying bloody heap when he tried to save her. He’s not sure if she sees that in his eyes but she drops her eyes from his. “Just be careful, okay?”

 

When he has been a captain for an entire year, his Division celebrates with drinks and food and it lasts for hours. The other captains and their squads stop by, each expressing in their own ways their pleasure with his growth. He thinks he knows the six that recommended him but none ever admit to it.

The 11th Division push his own squad to get drunker and by the time Renji sees Byakuya chatting with ease with members of his Division, he is very drunk.

“Captain!” He says, knowing his voice carries. The other man looks amused with him and he can’t help the goofy smile on his face.

“Congratulations, Captain Abarai on surviving your first year.” And Renji can’t stop himself from running his fingers through his hair.

“Wasn’t too hard, I survived you for longer” The other man chuckles and Renji swears his heart stops. He can’t do this.

 

It’s weeks later when he finds the small box on his dresser.

‘You’ve done well.’ Is all it says but Renji didn’t spend years doing his Captain’s paperwork not to recognize the handwriting.

He almost never takes the sunglasses off when he’s out and they become as recognizable as the scarf.

 

When he wakes up in the bed of the Fourth, his eyes find his Lieutenant Kamino first whose eyes well up with tears.

“You’re awake!” She says, quickly wiping at her eyes, practically jumping from the chair. It reminds him of his own vigil beside his Captain’s side years ago. “I’ll alert the Captains.” He shifts a little in confusion, feeling an answering pain up his side, as the girl vanishes.

“Renji!” He gasps as pain erupts in his side as Rukia hugs him, her grip tightening.

“They thought you were dead.” She says when she leans back.

“It would take more than a hollow to kill Captain Abarai.” They both stare at Byakuya as he enters, his eyes sweep over Renji taking in each injury before he nods, once.  Renji tries to rack his mind for when Byakuya has called him Captain before. He finds he likes the sound. “I expect you to make a full recovery.” The man says and Renji wants to snap to attention, he doesn’t, he nods back.

“Of course.” He says, not trusting himself to say more. Rukia pushes him gently, not caring.

“Don’t scare us like that again.” She says as he watches Byakuya leave, looks at Rukia who smiles at him and he concludes fairly quickly what needs to happen.

 

He doesn’t see Byakuya for what feels like weeks after the Hollow attack. His Division watches him protectively, and it takes several sparring battles for his Seated Officers to remember where they belong.

“You inspire loyalty in them,” Byakuya says, and there is that proud look again.

“Don’t know where it came from.” He says grudgingly wiping the sweat off his brow.

“You should. You’re deserving of it.” And that’s it. He’s tired of all the compliments, tired of feeling like he’s being buttered up to be fed to a snake.

“What do you want?” He asks, hating how his voice comes across wanting and quiet.

“Dinner,” Byakuya says as he looks away from him and Renji blinks at him in surprise. “Just dinner.”

 

There is a story here about two men who came from very opposite sides of Soul Society, who were connected by their bonds to a woman, and then forged their own.  

 

Renji gasps as Byakuya’s lips move down his neck, they hold hands pressed against the wall where he’s pinned, they grind into each other and Renji’s can’t quite stop the moan that comes out his throat. He wants to say this is a surprise, but it’s been a long time coming. He keeps his eyes focused on Byakuya’s head watching as the man dips lower and lower down the space where his skin shows.

“Wait, wait.” He says, hating himself for stopping, feeling anticipation crawl into his spine. He has to know. Byakuya freezes, tilting his head up to look at Renji. “Why did you wait so long for this?” Renji thinks if his Captain had said something, had whispered even a hint of validation into his skin, they could have been here sooner. But he didn’t.  The other man leans fully back, his hand still holding Renji’s tight.

“We had to be equal for this to work.” And Renji tilts his head to the side and Byakuya leans forward and then their lips press together, Renji melts into the kiss, feeling Byakuya’s other hand slide to grasp the back of his throat, before the other man leans his head back again. “I wasn’t interested in fucking my lieutenant.” Renji can’t stop the sly grin that crosses his face.

“Are you interested in fucking as Captains?” He asks, all sharp and full of intention. His heart stops as he watches Byakuya slide to his knees in front of him, graceful and lovely.

“I thought that would be obvious, Renji.”

They don’t talk much more for the rest of that night.

 

There is a story there about two kids in Inuzuri who became shinigami because they had to.

There is a story there about a man who kept a promise to a dying wife, growing his family on accident.

There is a story there about a line connecting two men to each other, as equals into the future.

**Author's Note:**

> Hated the power imbalance between these two, wanted to even the field.  
> Picked the seventh because in some media they're considered the peacekeepers between the inside and outside of the wall and as a kid from Inuzuri Renji would actually make a difference outside the wall.  
> tumblr: [Bloodbendingbabe](https://bloodbendingbabe.tumblr.com/)


End file.
